Just watched Paul De Gelder on The Project promoting the "fin for a fin" program where surfers can fit a thin that states they do not want a shark's life taken in revenge should they lose theirs.

RESPECT !!!

Great to see surfers with the courage to take responsibility for their own actions. This is a man that lost a leg and a forearm to a bull shark in Sydney Harbour a few years back when working . Yes he surfs too.

Looking forward to meeting this bloke next month. It's interesting that he mentioned some of the stuff I've been saying in here over the past few years.

I suppose there was not a lot he could do about it but wait for it to stop thrashing around...

Meanwhile some statistics from the trials of shark nets around Ballina in NSW are in......consensus seems to be that around 1.5% to 4% of animal deaths are for the target species ..ie great white's....while the majority of those caught and killed include dolphins,manta rays,turtles non-dangerous sharks and other harmless marine life...

3 attacks in a month before the nets went in. And despite multiple white shark drumline captures and notifications on the receiver stations indicating continuing presence of white sharks, as well as the busiest period of the year over Xmas there were no attacks and no encounters reported.

Based on the criteria of protecting human beings the net trial couldn't have been a bigger and more resounding success.

3 attacks in a month before the nets went in. And despite multiple white shark drumline captures and notifications on the receiver stations indicating continuing presence of white sharks, as well as the busiest period of the year over Xmas there were no attacks and no encounters reported.

Based on the criteria of protecting human beings the net trial couldn't have been a bigger and more resounding success.

Do you consider all the innocent marine life that were killed too a success??

3 attacks in a month in Ballina, 17 attacks in 2 years. The commonwealth legislation around white sharks is designed expressly to increase their numbers. The ethics around a policy of deliberately increasing abundance of an apex, ambush predator into heavily populated coastal areas where high ocean use is a function of culture, recreation and the economy has hardly been touched upon.But it should be.

This is hardly wrapping people in cotton wool. We are talking about employing a proven technology to reduce the risk of shark attacks in areas where they have become unacceptably high. Unacceptable to whom? to the people who live there.

The bycatch is regrettable and every measure possible should be employed to reduce it but putting it in perspective shows the amount of bycatch is very small in the scheme of things.

a) thinks people do not have to take responsibility for their own actions and accept the risk when entering the water.

b) think that adding to the already unacceptable practice of killing marine mammals is a necessary to keep said cotton wool brigade safe

and,

c) ignoring the vulnerable status of the target species and the advice of pretty much every marine expert when targeting them.

It's easy to nit pick data. Colin Barnett went and targeted these sharks and it didn't stop attacks in WA. There is a rather lengthy stream of evidence of what happens when man interferes with apex predators.

It is self righteous arrogance to put forward the argument that man is more important than every other species on earth. That's working out so well for us.

It's immensely gratifying to learn that there is a growing number of surfers taking up the fin for fin campaign rather than expecting the oceans be wiped of their apex predators so that some knuckle head can take a swim.

The commonwealth legislation around white sharks is designed expressly to increase their numbers. The ethics around a policy of deliberately increasing abundance of an apex, ambush predator into heavily populated coastal areas where high ocean use is a function of culture, recreation and the economy has hardly been touched upon.But it should be.

Yes, it should be. Many of those attacks were by white sharks only just reaching maturity and the size where larger prey is viable for their now strengthening jaws - exploratory mouthings if you like. Soon they'll start to get serious as they reach 4 metres in size and entire humans will just disappear. And there's no shortage of juvenile whites if the north coast tagging program is anything to go by. They're not endangered or vulnerable or needing protection.

You'll find it doesn't matter to the keyboard warriors in here what the people who actually use the water think. Two victims' families and one victim (my guess, no doubt to be corrected...) have "refreshingly" (...yep...) told the media they don't want to see any sharks harmed. That's conveniently ignoring the rest of the victims, their families, their friends and countless other water users who acknowledge the balance has tipped and that sharks are actually just fish with big teeth. Read back through this thread, you'll see what I mean.

Colin Barnett went and targeted these sharks and it didn't stop attacks in WA. There is a rather lengthy stream of evidence of what happens when man interferes with apex predators.

It is self righteous arrogance to put forward the argument that man is more important than every other species on earth. That's working out so well for us.

It's immensely gratifying to learn that there is a growing number of surfers taking up the fin for fin campaign rather than expecting the oceans be wiped of their apex predators so that some knuckle head can take a swim.

Didn't you once have "immensely gratifying" diving and surfing experiences (...did that make you a knucklehead?) while being "wrapped in cotton wool" thanks to the "self righteous arrogance" of the fishermen keeping shark numbers down so you could do so in relatively safely? Were you slamming out insults in defense of the big fish then on your typewriter?

As for Barnett, he didn't target white sharks. He put in drumlines when they were least likely to appear, with the Leeuwin current flowing warm and strong. He didn't catch a single white shark. Facts Coldy. Please try to stick to them.

Looks like the fin for a fin crowdfunding campaign is struggling. With 95 backers they've only reached 11 percent of their goal target and less than two weeks to go. Obviously not quite as popular an idea as they hoped.